we gotta stay positive (whoa-oh-oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh-oh)

is it me, or is the official pastime of grand rapids to complain about all the cool stuff that’s going on in grand rapids?  seems i can’t check my facebook feed or twitter without seeing a new development or initiative and then seeing thirty people shit on it.

exhibit a: the rob bliss waterslide thing. now granted, i’ve said some less than kind things about rob bliss in the past, but i’ve always liked the actual events he’s put together even if i “disagree” with his personality.  someone says to me: “dude (cause all of my friends are surfers, naturally), some kid is turning lyon into a giant waterslide, like in that dodge commercial,” i say, “sign me up, bro.”

not grand rapids.  grand rapids is dicks.

who’s paying for it?! did you read the damn article?! and i’m sorry your kid has leukemia, but what exactly does that have to do with anything?  he probably shouldn’t be on a giant waterslide regardless of the supposed “germ” issue.  here’s some more stupid people.

oh my god, shut the fuck up. and e-coli?  i don’t think you know how that works, rollin butler, if that is indeed your real name, WHICH I DOUBT!  granted, people who comment on local news stories tend to skew overwhelmingly toward awful.  but i’m also seeing people i actually know constantly bitching about really cool shit.

“man, I AM SO SICK of talented filmmakers and hilarious actors coming to grand rapids to shoot movies.  can we get bloated val kilmer back to shoot some direct-to-dvd crap?”

“art prize is just fucking grand rapids elite trying to control the scene, man, even though last year’s probably brought in 200,000 people and $7.6 MILLION to the area.”

“fuck all these new bars and venues popping up downtown.  the orbit room is just fine with me, thank you very much!”

god damnit, people. grand rapids is starting to get awesome in a big way and all you pricks can do is bitch and complain.  and it’s not just outside film companies and business owners doing cool shit.  there’s tons of artists and bands and photographers and god knows who else making and writing and shooting and god knows what else-ing.  i posted this earlier this week but it bears repeating here: when did it become uncool to be excited about shit?

obviously, me bitching about people bitching just helps create a bitching infinite loop that eventually will pull us all into a bitching black hole that no bitching can escape (too much?). so think of this as a call to arms against negativity.  i love grand rapids.  it has a lot of potential to be the next great mid-western city.  don’t drag it down with all your too-cool-for-schooledness.

-srd